The Path to Tomorrow
by RealityKeeper
Summary: Quirkless: a very uncommon term in today's world. 80% of the population lived with these abilities deemed quirks, a word riddled with disgusting impurity. They had taught Asuka this, trained her to one day destroy quirks and lead them on the path to tomorrow. Asuka was quirkless, to exist without a quirk was to be a freak. Asuka was a freak. And they couldn't have been more proud.
1. The Path to Tomorrow

**_the path to tomorrow_**

Quirkless: a very uncommon term in today's world. 80% of the population lived with these abilities deemed quirks, a word riddled with disgusting impurity. They had taught Asuka this, trained her to one day destroy quirks and lead them on the path to tomorrow.

Asuka was quirkless, and to exist without a quirk was to be a freak. Asuka was a freak.

And they couldn't have been more proud.

* * *

 **ｄｉｓｃｌａｉｍｅｒ**

 _I do not own My Hero Academia / Boku no Hero Academia, all rights belong to Kohei Horikoshi. All plot, characters, and settings outside of the mha / bnha canon universe belong to me._

 **ｗａｒｎｉｎｇ**

 _Themes of paranoia, insanity, child abuse, manipulation, terrorism, presumed sexual content, mature language, and gore are prevalent in this story. Read at your own risk._

 **ｃｏｐｙｒｉｇｈｔ**

 _I, the copyright holder, retain all the rights provided by copyright law, such as distribution, performance, and creation of my work. My work can not be sold, copied, quoted, or reproduced without my expressed permission. If wishing to do so you must contact me beforehand._

 ** _graphics by realitykeeper_**


	2. Prologue: To Snap a Neck

Michi Asuka was five years old when she first snapped someone's neck.

Well, some _thing_ _s_ neck. She had learned the technique from her tutor a few weeks prior; she knew where to place her hands, how hard and fast to twist. The knowledge had ingrained itself in her mind, stored under that file in her head she called 'useful information'. However, when the knowledge became to repetitious — "Yes, she knows the person had to relax and be unaware. Yes, she knows it was hardly ever immediately fatal," — she wanted to put her knowledge into practice.

She didn't have a human to practice on, (not one that wasn't on guard _all the time_ anyway) but she _did_ have a variety of large dogs. Crossbreeds of Rottweilers, Bull Mastiffs, Pit bulls, you name a frightening dog and it was here.

Asuka quickly found a dog, a black Rottsky with blue eyes that quickly trotted over to her outstretched hand, sniffing at the couple of biscuits she had snagged. She watched and waited, thankful patience was a virtue she was blessed with, and when the dog relaxed as it chewed at the biscuits Asuka stepped to its side. She gazed for one, two, three moments, softly placed her hands just above the dog's collar, and _twisted._

The girl could only describe the moment as stagnant; she heard the snap, the quick wheeze of the dog's last breath, and the dense thud of a body hitting the cold concrete. She didn't know how long she stood there, only snapping out of her trance at the whimper of another dog. And Asuka realised she smelled dust in the clean room.

Her carers didn't complain too much as they cleared out the dog. Some patted her on the head with proud smiles, other whispered with joyful anticipation in their voices. But when Asuka wasn't focused on their praises, she smelt the dust. Why didn't they get rid of the dust?

Her tutor moved on to poisoning at their next lesson.

And she finally snapped a human's neck four months later, the dust following her.


	3. I: Dracula

**I** _  
_ _  
_

Asuka numbly steps through the Yūei entryway, the larger-than-life school casting a shadow over her already dark mood. She glares at the shiny windows, glares at the chattering students, glares at the perfect trees and perfect sky and perfect concrete.

It'd been easy to pass the exam — disgustingly so in Asuka's judgement. She'd expected better from the _illustrious_ Yūei High. And now she was here, something she wasn't pleased about. Just being in the presence of these wannabe heroes sets a crawling itch under her skin, one she needs to claw out and string up to dry as the blood stains—

Asuka pins her gaze on cracks in the wall, swears they crack even more under her angry stare.

She focuses on her plan, on her _purpose._ Asuka has to learn anything and everything about her future enemies. She has to examine this generation and their quirks; the powerhouses and the dark horses. Any quirk used well was dangerous, a threat she had to get _rid_ of, plucking the bud before it bloomed.

Asuka focuses on keeping her thrashing blood at a normal rate. The girl can hear her over-stimulated veins working in her ears, the sound jostling her composure and releasing images of the surrounding students covered in blood.

Someone mimics the pounding, echoing off the walls with equal anger and causing the students to part like the red sea.

She no longer holds back her thoughts as Asuka's crimson eyes stare at a marching Bakugo Katsuki. Images of digging out his sweat glands with her scalpel filling her mind, delighted at the thought of destroying the _disgusting_ quirk he was so _enamoured_ by.

She giggles. And her red eyes meet equally red, equally angry, eyes.

"What the fuck are you giggling at!?"

Asuka tilts her head, her black hair spilling over her pale face, a tantamount image to her quaking anger against her calm facade. They hold each other's eyes; red against red, Asuka's still with curiosity and Katsuki's twitching with irritation.

Katsuki's lack of patience becomes clear to the girl immediately. "Well!? What the fuck, you damn Dracula!?"

The ravenette closes her eyes, sifting through the images in her mind thatcall to her– _plead_ for her to make them a reality. She hums softly and deflates, then continues walking, ignoring the boy's outbursts and taunts. Asuka assumes Katsuki will run after her and try to start a fight — a fight that she will gladly accept — but when she finds nothing thrown her way, she considers that she may have judged him incorrectly—

An explosion to her left proves Asuka's first theory correct.

"Who the fuck do you think you are!? I won't let you run away!"

The ravenette stares blankly in front of her, grip tightening around her bag strap as Katsuki stomps towards her. She feels his breath on the back of her shirt, hotter and a _lot_ closer than it should be.

The images rush to her. A blinding slideshow of bone white and blood red and she has to stop herself from slicing Katsuki's throat and revelling in the way his life essence will cascade down his broad and, sadly, unmarked throat.

"Heh, not so damn smart now hey, Dracula," Katsuki jeers, all gritted teeth and hot breath.

She can feel his smirk burning a hole into the back of her skull, she can practically _see and smell_ the burning charcoal camouflaged in her black hair. Her nails dig into her palm and it tethers her to the _disgustingly_ stark and blood free corridors. She feels eyes everywhere but knows none of the surrounding students are paying any mind to her losing her _goddamn_ mind.

She pivots on her heels and meets his eyes again. A deep breath through her nose sends her head spinning, and she realises she hadn't been breathing and the smell of disinfectant and perfume — _and is that sweat?_ — was making her nauseous. Asuka takes another breath before speaking. "If I'm Dracula, then you're Explodo-Boy." The girl hears the blond choke at the name but she's already continuing. "Also, did you forget to wash this morning? You reek of sweat."

The silence that appears seems like a pause in time and Asuka doesn't know whether or not she should feel relieved that she can hear the chattering of students instead of her own thoughts. Then the growl that escapes vice-like teeth snaps them back in time, makes Asuka focus on the veins trying to escape Katsuki's red neck, makes her think of the _delicious_ things she can do to that neck. And Asuka is back at square one, trying to black out the red, but it was _so_ hard when Katsuki's fury filled crimson met hers.

"You bitch... It's a part of my quirk... Just 'cause you're fuckin' older doesn't mean you get to treat me like shit!"

Asuka blinks, genuine confusion escaping from her dark mind and replacing the slight amount of intelligence she held. "Older? But I'm– I'm the same age as you..."

Katsuki stills, his gaze shifting from Asuka's eyes to the top of her forehead and she realises with a start she's been looking down at the boy this entire time, her height standing over his. It makes a genuine giggle rise from her, a mixture of amusement and cocky glee somehow squirming around her anger.

But then Katsuki's entire face fills with that exquisite red and that excited anger is back with a vengeance. The buried childlike side of her likens him to a tomato with blond vines — an amusing sight, truly — smoke wafting from his obnoxiously large hands as splutters of broken speech spill from his forever gritted teeth. "Y-you... You fuckin'–!"

Asuka breathes, holds onto that amusement and drowns her anger in it and sighs as the images sink into a murky depth. "You effing Dracula, right?"

"What? Too good to curse?" Katsuki sneers, tilting his head back as if to glare down at her, his blazing crimson trying to stoke her dwindling red.

The girl smirks with dead eyes, her voice silk on the tense air. "Hardly."

 **::**

Katsuki narrows his eyes at Asuka's retreating form. He notices the lack of swaying in her stride, her entire figure keeping its straight posture. The ravenette looks unnatural amongst the carefree composure's of the surrounding teens, deftly swerving around the babbling groups without them batting an eye as if they don't notice her.

The blond squeezes his lips together into a grimace. He doesn't like her. She's all glowing skin and sparkling teeth and malicious intent. It oozes out her entire being like invisible tar, all-encompassing and suffocating. He can't help but to compare her to a snake with its shiny scales camouflaging its danger.

He considers that maybe Dracula wasn't the right name to give her. But it's stuck now, and Katsuki wouldn't allow himself to look like a fucking idiot because of a damn _nickname._

The blond lets her walk off with that lifeless smirk still plastered on her pale face. He didn't like the way she makes his fight-or-flight response jump at her every word, it made him want to blast at her face and run.

And Katsuki doesn't like running.

Katsuki doesn't like Asuka.

 **::**

The muted clacking of Asuka's shoes becomes her clock against the internal concert of screaming thoughts. She holds onto it with a vice-like grip, allows it to shackle her to reality as she tries to busy herself in the free time she begins to dread _.  
_

 _35... 36..._

The girl had occupied her mind by memorising all the many, _many,_ hallways in Yūei's vast building and the routes to all her classrooms. Next she planned the best escape routes for each moment in her daily schedule in-case she was ever caught — not that she believes _that_ will happen.

 _49... 50..._

Despite her barely there sanity, Asuka feels confident she knows the school's layout as she meanders to her homeroom, her hold on the _clack-clacking_ becoming desperate without a distraction.

 _60... And 1—_

A single step into her classroom and she walks into someone, her height not saving her nose from the paralysing sting of knocking into someone's head straight on.

Asuka curses and holds her nose as her eyes close instinctively, her clock and thoughts hiding behind the haze of pain that spreads through her whole face, as nose injuries disgustingly do. She silently damns the culprit _— why the hell did they stand in the door!?_

"I knew you fucking cursed, Dracula."

Asuka stills, narrowing her eyes against the pain. The tops of her hands becoming the new subject of her glare. The thoughts steamroll back and if Asuka thought the god's hated her before, oh she was _damn_ sure of it now. That didn't stop the girl from hoping and praying. There was no wayshe was in Katsuki's class, _no way_ —

And there he is, sitting at a desk she assumes is now his, his feet crossed on said desk in a way that can only spell arrogance withthat violent grin on his face.

"And I'm sure my response was 'hardly', or are your ears numb from all those explosions," Asuka drawls, finally pulling her hand away from her face. She straightens herself to her full height and pulls a blank stare onto her face as she steps towards his desk.

Her indifference pushes one of Katsuki's many, always pressed, buttons. "You—!" He plants his feet on the floor, ready to stand and start round two—

"Ah! That curly hair!"

Katsuki and Asuka blink a brief show of flashing red, then they both turn their gazes to the voice. A short girl stands where Asuka was just before, peppy and bright as she looks at the _nose-knocker_ in happiness.

Uraraka Ochako, Asuka is sure that's the girl's name, she had an interesting gravity nullifying quirk. Asuka has to admit she felt disgustingly impressed.

"The plain-looking boy!" Ochako gushes, babbling on about how he got in and other things Asuka tunes out. She focuses more on the 'plain-looking boy' instead, or as she has dubbed him, Nose-Knocker.

Midoriya Izuku, a real pain in the ass already. He'd gotten quite a few glares during the exam briefing for being a muttering mess, but those glares quickly grew to praises after the exam. When Asuka arrived at the Academy's entrance on her way out, all she heard was _his name_ and about his _amazing_ quirk! It disgusted her, especially so when she couldn't find _any_ information on his quirk whatsoever! It's like he never recorded it, which is illegal!

Not that the girl ever cared about things being illegal, but that wasn't the point.

"If you're here to socialise, then get out."

Asuka feels her already shot nerves run from each other and she almost jumps out of her own skin at the sudden voice. The girl turns to stare at the perpetrator, presenting a blank face, pushing down the glare that was begging to come up, and the images that go with it.

And _oh_ she was glad she didn't glare. Asuka may not care about much, but even _she_ understood glaring at your homeroom teacher on the first day wasn't a good idea, especially when he's the pro-hero Eraserhead.

Though, the sleeping bag he cocooned himself in on the floor wasn't doing him any favours, intimidation wise.

Asuka's judgemental thoughts immediately shut up when Aizawa stands up and _looms_ over her as the girl realises that her teacher is taller. She growls a subdued, "Disgusting."

"It took eight seconds for you to quiet down," He drawls, sliding out of his cocoon. "Time is a precious resource. You lot aren't very rational, are you?"

Asuka slouches, pinning her eyes to her shoes. If she wasn't on the receiving end of Aizawa's comments, she was sure she'd get along with him.

"I am your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shota. Pleased to meet you." He gives no time for introductions as he shoves a gym uniform in Izuku's direction. "Quickly now. Change into your gym clothes and head out onto the grounds."

 **::**

Everyone quickly works up a fuss as Aizawa explains what they were doing: A test of everyone's quirks. Asuka would admit it was a smart move on their teacher's part if it didn't disgust her as much as it did _— of course it was all about quirks!_

Ochako quickly speaks up, "What about the entrance ceremony?! Or guidance sessions?!" She bunches her hands to her chest and her eyes stare wide and glittering.

Asuka scoffs, _real cute_.

Aizawa cuts off her cute act just as quickly. "No time to waste on that stuff if you want to become heroes. Yūei is known for its 'freestyle' educational system." — He gives the class a sideways glance — "That applies to us teachers as well."

He lists off the standard gym tests they all would have done in middle school and the supposed "ridiculous" banning of their quirks in said tests, and as he keeps talking Asuka feels herself sink into a pit. She can practically see her classmates standing at the edge, staring down and jeering as she drowns in the dark earth. Too much dirt, _too much dust!_

Asuka grits her teeth and focuses on the shuttering sound the action makes. She was so _different_ from them all. The girl hadn't done the tests since she was _'home-schooled'_ and she didn't have a _disgusting quirk._ She expected to feel ostracised from the other students, she knew Yūei hasn't prepared themselves for their first quirkless student, but she didn't realise how _disgusting_ that would make her feel — _she wasn't the disgusting one, they were!_

She didn't know whether to ask if she would receive different treatment. She desperately hoped the answer was no. Just because she _felt_ different didn't mean she wanted to be treated different, she didn't want to feel _weak._

Asuka would prove quirks weren't the be-all and end-all.

"Bakugo. How far could you throw in middle school?" — _right, the test, focus on the test._

Asuka snickers for show as Katsuki instantly rattles off 'sixty-seven metres' not surprised he has that information stored at the forefront of his mind.

Aizawa throws a ball to Katsuki. "Great," he drawls, "Now try it with your quirk. Do whatever you need to, just don't leave the circle."

Katsuki keeps Aizawa's gaze for a moment, then stretches his arms with a shrug, looking pleased to show off in pure Explodo-Boy flashy style. He gives a savage grin at Aizawa's prompt and stands ready to throw.

His throw is as violent as him. Vicious as a yelled "Die!" rips from him. Asuka has to admit the throw was impressive as it breaks the sound barrier and causes the surrounding air to whip around them. She ignores the chatters of awe around her with rolled eyes.

A device in Aizawa's hand beeps and the class turn to him expectantly. "It's important for us to know our limits. That's the first rational step to figuring out what kind of heroes you'll be."

He turns the device to them, a daunting '705.2m' glaring at them.

Asuka huffs as everyone squeaks about how awesome this will be. Muttering a quiet "Disgusting," to herself.

"Awesome... You say?"

Everyone freezes at their teacher's voice, holding their breaths at his tone. Asuka stands still. She knew that tone, had heard it plenty of times when she treated her training as a game. They were about to be in a world of trouble.

And Asuka knows she's right when suddenly Aizawa's presence alone looms over them more than his height. "You're hoping to become heroes after three years here... And you think it'll be all fun and games?"

There's silence as everyone is unsure how to respond. But he never gave them the chance.

"Right." Aizawa starts, a terrifying tone of finality in his voice. "The one with the lowest score across all eight events will be judged _hopeless..._ And be _expelled._ "

Asuka hears the yelling of her classmates, but she can't make out what they're saying. It all strings together a messy consonance she can't make sense of. Asuka can only hear the voice of reason in the back of her head that told her she was _quirkless, and_ there was no way she'd be able to beat their scores. She clenches her fists, stuck between asking for special consideration and flipping off the voice.

There was too many noises, too many thoughts, too many reasons to plead weak or stay strong. It was too much! — _please make it stop!_

Aizawa's depraved smile cuts through their yelling and sends them reeling. "Your fates are in our hands."

Asuka can hear her instructors demanding she takes the weak route, whispering in her ear to do the utmost basics to get through all this, ask for as much help as possible, lower their guards until she gets what she wants. She can feel their disapproving glares at her want to prove herself, shivers as it simmers into her being like a branding iron. It causes a wire to tie around her gut and squeeze until all she wants to do is plead and yell and _submit —make it stop!_

"Welcome. This is the hero course at Yūei High!"

Asuka steels herself. Blocks out the surrounding noise, the eyes and the hands on her skin. Stares at the sun until her eyes water to blind out the images in her mind _— MAKE IT STOP!_

Asuka has to choose quickly.

Her pride or her purpose.


End file.
